Paterson school board wants to reverse cap-and-gown ban for 8th grade graduations

PATERSON — Facing complaints and criticism from parents, the Board of Education is moving to drop its one-year ban on the wearing of caps and gowns for elementary and middle school graduations.

District officials are scrambling to try to reverse the cap-and-gown prohibition they imposed in 2023 so the policy change can take effect this year.

Superintendent Laurie Newell said last week that the district would have enough time to buy the caps and gowns if it ordered them in March and said she was not sure about delivery if it waited until April.

But the school board doesn’t plan to vote to change the elementary school graduation policy until its first meeting in April. In their beat-the-clock hurry, officials said they would change their policy approval process to combine in one session what normally are separate votes at two meetings.

'We were promised answers'

After generations of cap-and-gown eighth grade graduations, the board last year banned that attire from the ceremonies on the argument that too many Paterson families were looking at the elementary school event as the goal, rather than high school commencements.

But the change was never very popular with students and parents.

“For two long years, as parents in the district, we have pleaded, we have begged and we have fought for a simple yet profound tradition, the opportunity for our children to graduate with dignity wearing a cap and gown,” G.E. Soriano Sr., one of the leaders of the Paterson districtwide parent-teacher organization, said during last week’s school board meeting.

Soriano said it wasn’t fair for “a select few” to impose a prohibition on something that meant so much to so many people.

“We were promised answers, but all we received was silence,” Soriano said.

Other parents expressed similar frustrations at the school board meeting.

“We want our children to soar high,” said Rocio Pena, whose child is graduating from eighth grade this year at Alexander Hamilton Academy.

More from Paterson Press: 'We have to change that mindset': Paterson drops caps, gowns for eighth graders. Here's why

What did the school board say?

The board then engaged in a prolonged discussion over who was fault for not moving ahead with a vote on the cap-and-gown reinstatement.

Member Eddie Gonzalez said colleagues had given him their assurances they would return to the traditional graduation attire during conversations last October during the New Jersey school boards convention in Atlantic City. Gonzalez complained about the lack of action since then.

Board President Manny Martinez objected to what he described as an attempt to give the public the perception that the trustees were at odds on the issue. Martinez repeatedly said none of the board members opposed going back to having elementary school graduates wear caps and gowns.

The board on Wednesday asked its legal counsel, Bryant Horsley, if it needed to take separate votes on the graduation policy change. Horsely declined to say anything on the topic in public and said the discussion should be conducted in closed session.

Paterson Press asked the district the next day why the issue was discussed in private session. The district’s legal department said Horsley held the closed-door meeting on the topic because of the confidentiality needed for attorney-client privileged conversations.

After the closed session, school board Vice President Kenneth Simmons announced that the graduation policy reversal would be voted on at the workshop meeting next month, currently scheduled for April 17.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ school board says reverse cap-and-gown ban